Freelancers Union founder Sara Horowitz wants everyone to calm the hell down please! "Health insurance is so central to a sense of security and I realize that this is making people feel really vulnerable, but if they could just know one thing, it's that they really do have health insurance coverage," she told us when we spoke to her this afternoon about the hue and cry raised by the union's membership over a recent change in their benefits. Passing Damage Control 101 with fairly flying colors, Horowitz copped to mishandling how the details of the union's recent health plan switch were circulated to members. "People are clearly frustrated. We really truly apologize for some of these glitches," she said. "It's really our obligation and for a lot of people, we've failed."

The Freelancers Union is telling its irate members today that enrollment forms for new health plans …
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Billed or not, in possession of an insurance card or not, Horowitz said union members who signed up are covered under the organization's new plan with Empire. Maybe so, but they won't receive insurance cards till the middle of the month and that's got some freelancers concerned. Those who might need proof of coverage before then should head over to the FU's website, where Horowitz has posted a mea culpa and more information.

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"We really are desperately learning from this, especially trying to get information to people more quickly," she told us. "A lot of what people are saying is true. I wish our phone wait times were two minutes, that our call system was perfect." Huh! Maybe they picked up some skills from the Viacom boondoggle after all! The FU took about five hours to publicly address member concerns—Viacom took nearly as many days.